 function str = toString(item)
% Listing 17-5 - Converting any object to a string
% turn any object into its string representation
 if isa(item, 'char')
     str = ['''' item ''''];
 elseif isa(item, 'double') 
     if length(item) == 1
         str = sprintf('%g', item );
     else
         str = '[';
         for in = 1:length(item)
             str = [str  ...
                       sprintf(' %g', item(in) ) ];
         end
         str = [str ' ]'];
     end
 elseif isa(item, 'struct')
     if isfield(item, 'name')
         str = item.name;
     else
         nms = fieldnames(item);
         str = [];
         for in = 1:length(nms)
             nm = nms{in};
            str = [str nm ': '  ...
                          toString(item.(nm))  13];
         end
     end
 else
     str = 'unknown data';
 end


